March 2018

March 20, 2018

You seldom go to the sightseeing places in your hometown. It's only when someone comes to visit you from out of town that you go to see these places. My younger daughter, who lives in the U.S., came back last week for a visit. On Sunday, we went to Nagoya Castle. I hadn't been there in years. A lot has changed. The city has rebuilt the Honmaru Palace that was destroyed in World War II. It is a beautiful, wooden palace full of golden painted screens. Outside, people dressed up as ninja and samurai guided tourists and posed for photos. I felt like I was in Kyoto, not Nagoya.

March 18, 2018

On Friday, I was watching the TV evening news, and there was a reporter at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo. The weather bureau (”kishocho”) sends people to the shrine every day to see if the cherry trees have blossomed. These people look carefully at one particular cherry tree. If there are more than 5 or 6 blossoms open on this tree, they announce that the cherry blossoms in Tokyo have begun to open. On Friday, it was still too early. On Saturday, they went to the shrine again. This time they said that the cherry blossom season had begun.

March 16, 2018

I am a member of an English book club. We get together and talk about books and exchange information. One day, I asked the members what the original title of a Japanese translation was. One member told me the English title but said that it was too old to be sold at the bookshop now. Another member said that the library might have it. I went to my city library and looked for it, but they didn't have the book. Then another member went to his city library and borrowed the book for me. I enjoyed reading the book very much, and I was very impressed by the members. What a nice group they are!

March 15, 2018

Can you believe it? Muraoka Momoka has won four medals at the Paralympics in five days! She won her first medal in the downhill on Saturday. It was silver. On Sunday, she got the bronze in the Alpine skiing super-G. Then, on Tuesday, she got her third medal in the Alpine skiing super combined. It was another bronze. Yesterday she got her fourth medal in the Alpine skiing giant slalom. This time, it was gold. It is also the first gold medal for any Japanese athlete at the Pyeongchang Paralympics. She is a real superwoman, and she may win another medal before the games are over.

March 13, 2018

I was talking to my nephew in the U.S. the other night. He was very happy because he had just bought a new car. He was so proud of the leather seats and heated steering wheel. That surprised me. I told him that people in Japan had heated toilet seats but not heated steering wheels. It was his turn to be surprised. He asked if I had a heated toilet seat, and I said "yes." He wondered why Japanese have heated toilet seats, but my wife explained that Japanese houses are not well heated. Instead, she wondered why cars needed to have heated steering wheels.

The Paralympics began last Friday, and last night I saw Narita Gurimu get a bronze medal in the snowboard cross. It's very different from downhill skiing events because snowboarders are racing against each other. Actually, I thought it was more exciting to watch than skiing because of that. In the Olympics, there are six people on the course, and the top three go on to the next round. In the Paralympics, there are only two snowboarders on the course. Narita Gurimu was leading in the semifinals, but he fell. Then he finished first in the last round to take home the bronze.

March 12, 2018

I am happy to hear that Ichiro is going back to the Mariners. He has been playing in the Major Leagues for 17 years, and he was with the Mariners for 11 of those years. I think he feels that he has come back home. He kept a home in Seattle even when he played for the New York Yankees and the Miami Marlins. He is 44, which is old for a professional baseball player, but he can still play. Now he has a one-year contract with the Mariners, and he will probably be playing left field. He says that he wants to play at least until 50. Good luck, Ichiro! If anyone can do it, you can.

March 09, 2018

On my desk at the office, I have this calendar. Each month has a picture by students from a special needs school. February has a cute illustration titled, "Alphabet shaped animals." Colorful animals are shaped into the letters from A to Z. For example, A is for an alligator with a jagged back and S is for a swan with a curvy neck. It is so much fun to find out what they are. I am amazed by their creativity! However, I don't know what N is for. The animal for this letter looks like a snake but has four legs and a long tail. What is it? (Answer: It's a newt.)

March 07, 2018

The guide tried to stop the train by hitting the window with his hands, but it didn't stop. Instead, the police arrested him after seeing him on the station camera. He told them that he had to get back to his group on the train, but they didn't believe him. They called the Cassiopeia, and luckily the conductor said that he was telling the truth. But how did the he get back to the train? A police officer took him to Fukushima by Shinkansen. When the Cassiopeia came into the station, he got back on. It was still early in the morning, so no one on the tour ever found out!

There was a tour guide who loved trains. He was very happy a few years ago when he had a chance to take a group on the Cassiopeia, an overnight luxury train from Sapporo to Tokyo. The train made a stop in the middle of the night, probably to take on food and drinks. Because it was so late, the train doors opened quietly. The tour guide got off wearing just a sweat shirt and sweat pants and brought his cell phone with him. He went to the front of the train and took a picture. Just then, the doors closed and the train started to move. (Read Part 2 tomorrow)

March 05, 2018

The Pyeongchang Winter Olympics have just finished, but there is already news about the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. According to ABC TV, a pair of mascots was chosen, one for the 2020 Olympics and the other for the Paralympics. The ABC reporter seemed very interested in the Japanese love of mascot characters, and he showed a short video of "yurukyara." He was surprised at how the Olympic mascots were chosen. Elementary school children from all over Japan were shown three pairs. They voted and the winners were the blue mascot for the Olympics and the pink one for the Paralympics.

March 04, 2018

I wonder if 48 is an unlucky number in Australia. I am here with another teacher and a tour escort, and we are staying in rental rooms with kitchens and washing machines. We make our own food and wash our clothes. I’m in room number 60, and the other teacher is in number 40. Neither of us has had any problems. Our tour escort has not been so lucky. She washed her laundry, and her clothes turned blue. Then, a few days later, the lamp next to her bed disappeared. Her room number is 48. I think I will avoid the number 48 in Australia from now on

March 01, 2018

On January 1, I made a list of 100 things to do such as "don't complain for a day" and "talk to someone who is lonely." All of them are difficult for me. Yesterday I went shopping in Osaka, and on my way home someone spoke to me. He said that he couldn't find his train. His train left from a different station, but I managed to explain the way to the station. He thanked to me, and I was happy to see his happy face. I remembered that my list included giving directions to a foreigner. I was able to do it! It gave me self-confidence. Now I have a feeling that I can do the other 99 things.

In Australia, just like in Japan, teenagers have smartphones and are always connected to the Internet. Unfortunately, some of them spend too much time online and cannot make friends. Now there is a nine-day digital detox bootcamp where parents can send their teenagers to get them away from technology. Veterans (soldiers with war experience) run the camp. They get the teenagers to exercise, and they take them on adventure activities like sky-diving and hiking. The veterans believe that if the teenagers learn teamwork and feel better about themselves, they can control their use of technology better.

February 28, 2018

Do you know the Spice Girls? They were one of the best-selling British pop groups in the 1990s. Now they are big news on Australian TV. According to Mel B, one of the original five members, they will be performing at the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan at Windsor Castle in May. One question is where they will sit in the church. Will they sit on the groom's side (Prince Harry's side) or on the bride's side (Meghan's side)? Actually, Prince Harry met them when he was a child, so one newscaster thinks they will sit on Harry's side.

One primary school had an assembly last week, and my students were introduced to all the children in the school. The Japanese teacher, a man who used to teach English in Japan, decided to show respect by playing "Kimi ga yo," the Japanese national anthem. My students didn't know what to do when they heard their national anthem. Then he played the Australian national anthem, "Advance Australia Fair." All the children started to sing. It's the same in the U.S. Everyone learns the national anthem from an early age, but I don't think Japanese are used to singing "Kimi ga yo."

February 25, 2018

The wildlife is what makes Australia so different from other countries. No trip should be without a visit to see Australian animals. Yesterday, we saw and heard the famous kookaburra, a bird that sounds like it is laughing, from a steam railway. Then we went to an animal park where we could touch and feed kangaroos, cockatoos (white birds) and emus (big birds that cannot fly). We saw koalas and wombats there, too. Finally, we went to Phillips Island to see penguins come out of the ocean and bring food to their babies. Wallabies (small kangaroos) and geese were eating grass in nearby fields.

February 22, 2018

I can put a 10,000-yen bill into a ticket machine and get change in Japan. I visited Washington D.C. last year and found out that the U.S. was different. When I took a bus to the airport, a young Italian man asked me if I could break his 20-dollar bill. The fare was 7 dollars, but the bus did not give change. Unfortunately, I had spent most of my cash. He asked if anyone else could break his bill. Most people said "no," but finally a woman looked in her purse. She couldn't give him the exact amount, but he looked happy. Without change, he would have had to use the 20-dollar bill.

February 21, 2018

How would you feel if you went to your favorite noodle restaurant and were told that they were closed because they didn’t have enough noodles? That is happening in Britain now with chicken. Kentucky Fried Chicken doesn’t have enough chicken to make its most famous product, fried chicken. Apparently, KFC changed the company that delivers the chicken. For some reason, the new company is not delivering the chicken. Because there isn’t any chicken, stores all over Britain are closing until the chicken comes. People in Britain eat a lot of chicken, so there are lots of disappointed customers.

February 20, 2018

My students are visiting Australian primary (elementary) schools and kindergartens. We have noticed many differences between Australia and Japan. For one thing, Australian primary children have to wear uniforms. Another difference is the school day. Schools begin at 9:00, and there are five one-hour classes each day. Children have a 30-minute recess from 11:00-11:30. They can play outside and eat snacks. Then they have a one-hour lunch break from 1:30-2:30. They finish school at 3:30 and go home. Each day is the same. There are no long days or short days.

Australian money is similar to American money. Both countries use dollars, and each dollar is 100 cents. There are some big differences, however. Australian bills are made of plastic. I don't know if it is true, but someone told me that Australians wanted to make money that would be safe even if they went swimming. Plastic money certainly doesn't go bad in water! Most Australian coins are round, but the 50-cent coin has 12 sides. It is so big and heavy that you don't want to carry more than one. The 1- and 2-dollar coins are much smaller than the 50-cent coin, but they are a different color.

February 17, 2018

Hanyu Yuzuru gave two great performances at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics and got the gold medal in men's figure skating for the second time in four years. I missed seeing both the short and the free programs because I was on my way to Australia. It was my sister in the U.S. who gave me the news. She wrote a short email that said, "Yuzuru Hanyu frenzy at the Olympics!" I double-checked and found out that Hanyu was the winner. He said that he would get the gold, and he did! Uno Shoma was not far behind. He came in second, giving Japan the silver medal as well.